Nortrom the Silencer

"Part of the seventh and final generation of a carefully designed pedigree, Nortrom was bred by the ancient order of the Aeol Drias to be the greatest magic user the world had ever seen. He was the prophesied one, the culmination of two-hundred years of careful pairings, a war-mage who would bring glory to the order, and destruction to their sworn enemies, The Knights of the Fold. Raised with other young mages in a hidden cantonment among the hills of the Hazhadal barrens, the order's preceptors waited for Nortroms abilities to manifest. While the other students honed their talents with fire, or ice, or incantatory spells, Nortrom sat silent and talentless, unable to cast so much as a hex. As the day of final testing approached, he still hadn't found his magic. In disgust, the preceptors berated him, while the children laughed. You are no mage, the head of the order declared. Still, Nortrom did not slink away. He entered the day of testing and faced down the young mages who had mocked him. And then his preceptors learned a valuable lesson: a lack of magic can be the greatest magic of all. Nortrom silenced the young mages one by one and defeated them in single combat, until he alone stood as champion of the Aeol Drias, in fulfillment of the prophecy."-Dota 2 Lore

Nortrom was born with the supernatural ability to yell "SHUT THE F#$% UP!"-TL;DR Version

When to Pick Silencer:

RULE #1 *Most Important Rule*
Silencer teams generally require one Support hero and one hard Carry.
- No Exceptions.
- Silencer fits a Role in between Support and Carry so he plays best off of each.

OTHER TIPS!
- Look to be in aggressive team compositions because Silencer generally needs a lot of enemy heroes dying around him.
- Any enemy heroes with channeling spells are countered by Silencer.
- Enemy heroes dependent on nuking get shut down easily by Nortrom.

How to Lane Silencer:

In my opinion Silencer can go anywhere as long as he adapts to the lane.

Safe Lane (Radiant Bottom Lane or Dire Top Lane)
- Silencer is a powerful harasser and best laned with a disabler.
- Can also run solo safe lane if there's a jungler.
- Babysitting a hard carry is not ideal but Silencer can do this by harassing the enemy heroes and keeping them from focusing on the carry while said carry farms.

Mid Lane
- Silencer is not the best Mid Hero but he is still better than most.
- If your team lacks a really good Mid Hero such as Zeus or Queen of Pain then head Mid.

Hard Lane (Radiant Top Lane or Dire Bottom Lane)
- Nortrom can handle the hard lane pretty competently with the new Last Word.
- Since allied hard carries never go here it's usually easier to farm last-hits.
- Enemy hard carries will be in the lane... Silencer is a great harasser and you can shut them down early game especially with a competent lane partner.
- This is normally where I end up because nobody likes being in this lane.

What Items to Build on Silencer:

The ESSENTIAL Items - IN ORDER -
1. TP Scrolls (Seriously carry those as often as possible).
2. Power Treads
3. Force Staff
4. Scythe of Vyse

How to Play Silencer:

If you're a beginner at Silencer use the Main Build until you understand how Nortrom works.
If you know how to play Silencer... still use the Main Build.

Situational Build is mostly for those games where nobody on your team picks a hard carry (requires full planetary alignment and nobody saying "hue hue hue").
Situational Build is okay for players that like to focus on right-click damage but there are a lot better options out there for hard carries.

Early-Game
- Click W then use Glaives on the enemy hero like it was a spell. Learn this technique. Practice this technique. MASTER this technique.
- Use your Glaives to harass even at Level 1. Try to force the enemy heroes to use their consumables.
- When Last Word hits level 2 start using it to harass the enemy heroes. Use on the enemy hard carry when he approaches the creep line or use it on his Lane Support so they can't do their job.
- At Level 5 spam Last Word like it was going out of style. Last Word is like Herpes; you're not meant to keep it to yourself.
- Focus on getting Power Treads up and running during this stage of the game.
- Carry two or three TP Scrolls.

Mid-Game
- Finish your Force Staff as soon as possible.
- Main Build start using CotS after the enemy hero(es) is silenced by Last Word or Global Silence.
- Main Build only put Glaives on auto-cast during team-fights until your mana pool can sustain it being on all the time.
- Situational Build put your Glaives on auto-cast and use them every chance you get.
- Start getting components for your Scythe of Vyse.
- Carry two or three TP Scrolls.

Late-Game
- Finish Scythe of Vyse as soon as possible.
- Make the enemy heroes poop themselves when they get hit by your Glaives (should be over 100 Pure Damage by now).
- Focus on using Global Silence correctly to help with initiating on Tier 3 Towers and Barracks high ground.
- Also crucial to win team-fights with Global Silence because as the death timers grow death becomes more costly.
- In fights versus enemy hard carries try to get them with tactical Last Words that last the full duration and then Disarm them.
- Carry two or three TP Scrolls.

Notes:
- Curse of the Silent will be removed when the target dies or begins the effect of a spell.
- Deals damage and mana loss every second while active.
- Can be purged.

Main Build:
This skill is your second priority after Last Word.
Generally speaking this is your follow-up skill.
-- This means after Global Silence or Last Word goes off immediately use this skill.
-- Also after enemy heroes have used spells or are out of mana use this skill.
Silencer is no longer required to spam this skill so don't do it!

Situational Build:
Never level this skill.
Part of the reason why you use the Situational Build is because CotS is not effective against certain heroes.
Another reason is because to do a 'Carry Silencer' you need to be aiming for Late Game and Late Game only.

Glaives of Wisdom(W) - "Glaives"

"Silencer enchants his glaives with his wisdom, dealing additional damage based on his Intelligence. If an enemy hero dies while in range of Glaives of Wisdom, Silencer will permanently steal 2 Intelligence from that hero."

Notes:
- Glaives of Wisdom's intelligence steal is not retroactive, meaning any kills made before you level Glaives of Wisdom at least once will not count.
* By pressing W then clicking the enemy hero creeps AND towers will not switch targets to attack you.
* Pure-type Damage is not mitigated by Armor or Magic Resistance.
* Will not go through Magic Immunity.
* Permanently steals 2 Intelligence when an enemy hero dies within 900 range of Silencer or if Silencer gets the kill at any range.
* Will do FULL damage to targets with Omniknight's Guardian Angel affecting them.

Main Build:
Start with one level at the start to ensure you get as much bonus Intelligence as possible.
This skill requires kills and items to truly be effective so at early levels it isn't as good as his other two skills.
However one level will allow you to harass heroes without aggroing creeps or towers.
Later in the game this skill will become your most powerful and potent source of damage.
This is the skill that allows you to carry.

Situational Build:
Start with one level at the start.
Max this skill second after Last Word.
Use Glaives of Wisdom mostly to last-hit creeps for the gold.
When you're not last-hitting creeps try to harass heroes with this skill.
Stats in conjunction with Glaives will make sure your damage grows reliably.

Last Word(E)

"Targets an enemy unit placing a debuff on it. While the debuff is active, casting any spell causes the target to become silenced and take damage. If the duration of the debuff runs out without the target casting a spell, it will still take damage and be silenced but also be disarmed."

Notes:
- You have basic vision over the Last Word target while the initial debuff is on it.
- Last Word does not trigger on item use.
- Channeling skills will activate this even if they are canceled.
- The silence happens at the end of the spell casting and will not interrupt channeling spells
* Target has to not cast any spells for 5 seconds for the Disarm to take effect.

Main Build:
Max this first.
This is your primary nuke/control skill.
300 Magic Damage every 12 seconds for only 115 mana is extremely powerful early game.
The 6 second Silence (and possible Disarm) at level 4 of this skill is far too good to pass up.
Due to the 6 second Silence/Disarm this skill NEVER becomes obsolete.
After you get this skill to level 2 or 3 spam away!

Situational Build:
STILL Max this first!
This gives you extremely reliable damage output that most carries lack early game.
The vision of your target for up to 5 seconds can be important when tracking kills.
If you time it right and get the 6 second Disarm you can go toe-to-toe with most carries.

Global Silence(R)

"Silencer stops all sound, preventing enemy heroes and units on the map from casting spells."

Duration: 4/5/6 secondsCooldown: 140 secondsMana Cost: 250/350/450

Notes:
- This ability works on invisible units.
- Silence works on magic immune units.
- Silenced units can still use items.
- Will not interrupt channeling of Town Portal Scroll.
- If affected unit becomes magic immune the debuff is removed.
- Can be purged.
* Will interrupt ALL channeling spells.
* If Lifestealer is currently inside a unit Global Silence will not affect him.

Both Builds:
This is Silencer's most powerful skill.
Used correctly this skill can
-- Turn a teamfight from Defeat to Victory.
-- Stop powerful channeling ultimates like Enigma's Black Hole, Bane's Fiend Grip, etc.
-- Provide safety for Initiators.
-- Prevent Riki from becoming invisible.
-- Prevent Active Attack Abilities like Clinkz's Searing Arrows, Drow Ranger's Frost Arrows, etc.
-- Prevent Escape by Naga Siren, Queen of Pain, etc.
-- Save teammates.
All of this utility is extremely important and makes Global Silence one of the most powerful ultimates in the game because all you have to do is press R and every single enemy hero becomes Silenced regardless of location or magic immunity.

Items

BOTH BUILDS:

Early-Game Items

BOOTS OF SPEEDCost: 450
+ 50 Movespeed

- Basic boots. Try to get them as soon as possible to help with positioning and harassing.

MAGIC STICKActive: Energy Charge - Gains charges (max 10) based on enemies using abilities in a nearby area. When activated, it restores health and mana based on the number of charges stored.Health and Mana Restored per Charge: 15Cost: 200

- Extremely reliable Silencer because he forces enemy heroes to cast spells.
- Should be enough sustain to make sure you stay in lane for a long time.

- Cheap and effective in the Early Phase.
- Situational Get two for the boost to Glaives' damage.

Core Items

MAGIC WANDActive: Energy Charge - Gains charges (max 15) based on enemies using abilities in a nearby area. When activated, it restores health and mana based on the number of charges stored.Health and Mana Restored per Charge: 15
+3 Strength
+3 Agility
+3 IntelligenceCost: 509

- Most viable, important item in the game for Silencer NO EXCEPTIONS.
- Gives you a complete single-target disable which is VERY important.
- Disables target's Evasion, Damage Block, AND forces them to move at 100 Movespeed. All essential when you need to do tons of damage with Glaives.
- Gives much needed beefiness on a squishy hero.
- Extra Intelligence is really nice too!

- always, Always, ALWAYS carry two or three of these.
- Did I mention always carry two or three?
- Seriously. TWO or THREE.
- You have to use these to make sure you're always near enemy deaths because you want as much Intelligence stolen as possible.
- Before you have a Force Staff this is your best method of escaping death.

WHEN TO GET IT: I usually get this item when I'm doing poorly and am trying desperately to get items.

- Fallen off a lot with the introduction of Force Staff but still a pretty good item.
- Turns almost any team fight into a 4v5 (in your favor).
- The extra 30 movespeed is nice for chasing, escaping, and positioning.
- While the disable is not as nice as Vyse because you can't actually attack them; it can get you out of a tight spot or set up an enemy hero so your team can gank him.

WHEN TO GET IT: When you really, really need OVERKILL on a single target or you are in desperate need of extra silence.

- This item essentially adds 3 points of damage for every 10 taken by a target in a 5 second window. This can be good for shutting down a troublesome adversary.
- I've found this item works really well against heroes like Naga Siren that rely on an escape to evade deathblows but that was before the Last Word rework.
- This item WILL force an enemy to become Disarmed by Last Word if you use the two together; that is very nice against carries.
- The biggest drawback to this item is that it offers nothing to solve Silencer's health deficiency; think about that before you buy it. If you're not having trouble with taking damage than this is a great item.

WHEN TO GET IT: You have A LOT of extra cash from getting A LOT of farm and kills.

- This is a TRUE Luxury Item meaning there's only a 1% chance you'll ever need this item or ever have enough farm to get it. What I'm saying is that in 99 out of every 100 games you won't make enough gold to get Eye of Skadi fast enough to make it useful.
- If you are really far ahead Eye of Skadi can still be a good idea on Silencer.

- The idea behind this item is that since Silencer always needs to be near team fights that it's a good idea to carry Mekansm for your team.

WHEN TO GET IT: When your team has no source of healing and no Support heroes getting Mekansm.

WHY NOT MAKE THIS A CORE ITEM?The Heroes that have this is a Core Item are: Ancient Apparition, Chen, Dazzle, Disruptor, Jakiro, Keeper of the Light, Lich, Lion, Necrolyte, Pugna, Silencer, Vengeful Spirit, Visage, Warlock, Wisp.

-- They all have the 'Support' Role in common.
-- The difference between Silencer and these Heroes is that Silencer also has the 'Carry' Role.
-- How many carries or even semi-carries do you know of that get Mekansm? Answer: NONE!

There is no reason why Silencer MUST HAVE this item. None.
Most of the time you will have a True Support hero on your team getting the Mekansm anyway.
The rare occasions when your team doesn't have one single Support hero is when it is acceptable to get a Mekansm on Silencer because it will help his survivability.
Even then always consider that this item doesn't help your damage output at all.

WHEN TO GET IT: When you already have your Scythe of Vyse and the enemy team only has one or two single-target stuns/slows that they always save just for you.

- This item is mostly Situational and you usually only want to get it if you're having a good game.
- Most of the time I would recommend Black King Bar over this item but on the Main Build it is acceptable in certain situations.
- Adds some nice beefiness and survivability with decent mana regeneration on the side.
- The disadvantage is the steep cost.
- NEVER get this if you're trying to carry using the Situational Build.

WHEN TO GET IT: When you're super fed and you want a reliable way to get more burst damage.

- This item is the most expensive. A Dagon Level 5 will cost you a Grand Total of 8005 gold.
- If you do decide to get Dagon I would only upgrade it to Level 3 until each of the 6 Slots in your Inventory is full.
- Most of the time there will be no reason to get this item especially since they reworked Last Word but I included it so this guide will be all-encompassing.

SUPPORT ITEMS

WHEN TO GET THEM: If at any point in the game (Early, Mid, or Late) you're doing really well pitch in to help your team.

- In my mind this is what separates Silencer from the rest of the Carries; his Intelligence Steal reaches peak effectiveness ONLY if his team is doing well. These items are ESSENTIAL if a team wants to do well.
- Only pitch in for Support Items if either you're farming well, have a ton of assist gold to spare, or have kills under your belt. I usually don't start helping out with Support Items until I have my Force Staff finished.
- The only exception to the above rule is if buying Invis Detection will help your team get kills. Your carrying power increases the more enemy heroes die around you.
- Helping your Support with this type of upkeep is a good way to get Commends. Trust me!

WHEN TO GET IT: The other team has methods of making you miss a good percentage of the time. Either abilities like Tinker's Laser, Riki's Smoke Screen, Brewmaster's Drunken Haze, etc OR Evasion skills like Phantom Assassin's Blur.

- A normal Silencer usually can deal enough damage with Last Word and CotS to negate much of these effects.
- When you're trying to carry with Glaives however True Strike can be very, very important.
- This is another item that you only get once during a complete Solar Eclipse. It's when you notice the other team is built around making physical attacks miss.
- Good to note this item WILL NOT work against Faceless Void's Backtrack.

WHEN TO GET IT: The other team figures out Black King Bar will super-counter your damage output with Glaives so a majority (3+ heroes) of them grab a BKB. Either that or a majority (3+ heroes) of them have some way of getting Magic Immunity (abilities + BKB).

- The Situational Build assumes that you need to be the massive damage output for your team late game and you can't do that if the other team counters you too hard; this item helps with that.
- Regardless of if the critical strike stacks with your Glaives (Critical Damage on the Hit + your Glaives damage afterward) this item will make BKB not cause your damage output to be obsolete.
- Stacks nicely with Stolen Intelligence because each Int stolen is +1 to your base damage which will stack with Critical Strike.
- This item should almost never grace your inventory unless the planets align and that ONE game arises where you definitely need it.

Luxury Items / Fed

HYPERSTONE
+55 Attack speedCost: 2100

WHEN TO GET IT: You're really fed and you want a quick way to boost your damage output.

- Grab the Hyperstone and don't upgrade it to anything unless you really want to.
- If you absolutely must upgrade this item then Assault Cuirass is probably the best choice.

Advanced Tactics & Match-up Discussion

MAIN BUILD or SITUATIONAL BUILD?

Rule of Thumb: Use Main Build most of the time.

Situational Build is mostly if you get counter-picked hard or if a majority of the enemy team has really quick, low-mana cost spells that completely dismantle CotS.
Situational Build is also useful against a team with an Omniknight, Lifestealer, and/or a lot of Black King Bars.

For those that still wonder why I would ever include the Situational Build - it's just like a Situational Item.
It's there and you COULD get it but most of the time you simply don't have to.

SKILL SYNERGY

How to use Skills at Peak Effectiveness.

Last Word -> CotS
Curse of the Silent does great damage to their health and mana pool but in most cases it is not very reliable because they can just cast out of it.
Last Word will definitely alleviate this problem!

When you cast Last Word DO NOT immediately follow-up with CotS.

You want to wait until one of two things happen.
1. Enemy hero uses an ability to prevent the Disarm.
2. Enemy hero waits over the full debuff duration and gets Disarmed.

As soon as you see that your target is Silenced cast CotS immediately!This combination is your bread and butter.
It will net kills while keeping the lane safe and controlled.

Global Silence + CotS
This works differently than Last Word -> CotS.
If there are enemies (plural) near you when using Global Silence immediately use CotS and try your best to hit every enemy you possibly can using a single cast.

Global Silence -> Last Word
This is a situational setup not something you do all the time.
Another useful tool to keep in mind in the back of your head.

This will force your target to be Disarmed AND Silenced because they won't be able to cast anything to prevent it.

Essentially you get to pick which hero you want to take completely out of the team-fight after Global Silence ends.
- Hard carries won't be able to attack for 6 seconds.
- Initiation Area of Effect like Black Hole or Ravage won't be able to immediately come out after Global Silence ends.
- Team-wide or target saves like Omniknight's Guardian Angel or Dazzle's Shallow Grave won't be able come out after Global Silence ends.

ADVANCED GLAIVES OF WISDOM TIPS

Pressing W instead of Auto-cast
At the very early stage of the game this is EXTREMELY important.
Right-clicking will pull the creeps toward you so use your Glaives of Wisdom like a spell instead.
If you use Glaives of Wisdom like a spell
- Creeps will not switch targets and aggro to you. You won't take as much damage.
- If the enemy tower is currently hitting creeps it will not switch to firing at Silencer if Nortrom uses W to hit heroes. DO NOT RIGHT-CLICK!!
- It helps manage your mana-pool by giving the choice of when Glaives of Wisdom will be used instead of using it every attack.
Practice, practice, practice this!!

Glaive Walking
This doesn't work as well in DotA 2 but the concept is pretty much the same.
If you play Silencer enough you'll see that his attack has a lot of extra swing even after his Glaive is launched into the air.
You use this to your advantage by
1. pressing W then clicking your target.
2. As soon as you see the Glaive in the air (or you have the timing down) immediately click to move closer to your target.
3. The moment you're within range press W and click your target again.
4. Repeat this process over, and over, and over.
Ideally Silencer is meant to be played as a highly mobile hero and you're not meant to stand in one place for too long.

Using Glaives during Immobilizing effects
Immobilization does not mean a stun.
This is an effect that stops you from moving and attacking like Spirit Bear's Entangling Claws, Crystal Maiden's Frostbite, etc.If you click W and click a target during any of these effects Silencer will attack them!

MATCH-UPS

EFFECTIVEAGAINST
It's good to be Nortrom when an enemy team consists of these.

Chain-nukers

Heroes with Channeling Abilities

Heroes with Immobilization

Physical-Blocking Heroes

And these Heroes too!

INEFFECTIVEAGAINST
Want to PWN an opposing Silencer?
Pick these!

High-speed or Surprise Gankers

Magic Immune Heroes

Image-dependant Heroes

And these heroes too!

COUNTERING SPECIFIC HEROES

There are certain heroes Silencer can potentially counter in an odd sort of way.
Listed Alphabetically.

Blink Heroes
- Silencer can stop blinking with Last Word but this is a double-edged sword.
- If they Blink into you now they can do no spells to you.
- However, Last Word will sometimes force them to Blink away from you. This can make it hard to follow-up with CotS.
- Global Silence during a team fight will stop all escape!

Invis Escape Heroes
- Curse of the Silent will hit Invis Heroes (whether or not you can see them is irrelevant)
- This is tricky. Either force them to use their Invis Skill with Last Word or wait for them to use it on their own. AS SOON AS YOU SEE THEM INVIS use Curse of the Silent.
- This is great for getting them to come out of Invis to avoid taking Curse damage OR Curse can be used to kill them if they keep trying to escape with low HP.

Mirana
- Silence will stop her from returning to invis when Mirana or her allies reveal themselves while under the effect of Moonlight Shadow
- She depends a lot on chaining her skills one after the other so Silencer can counter her relatively well.
- Her Ace in the Hole is Sacred Arrow. If she gets enough distance on the Arrow and stuns you for long enough... That usually spells death for you.

Naga Siren
- Silence from Last Word and Global Silence will stop Naga from using Song of the Siren which is very important when you're trying to kill her. Naga actually counters Silencer pretty well but this is one of the ways you can make sure she dies in team fights.
- If you get an Orchid you can always stop Naga Siren from using her Song of the Siren.
- This match-up is a Two-Way Street because all Naga has to do is net you; there is no way for you to get away from her or anyone else on her team.
- Use your Force Staff while Netted to put extra space between you and her. That's pretty much all Silencer can do.

Omniknight
- He can only Repel one target at a time. You can still focus either him or the ally with him. If he uses Repel on a target with Last Word it will stop the silence or disarm from ever occurring.
- Glaives is a GREAT counter to Guardian Angel (GA). GA only stops Physical Damage from coming through BUT Glaives will still do full damage because it is Pure.
- Curse of the Silent and Last Word will still damage GA'd targets.
- Omniknight and Silencer will constantly fight each other and will only SITUATIONALLY come out on top over the other.

Outworld Destroyer
- Last Word is a thorn in OD's side because it forces him to do one of two things.
1. Cast a spell and not be able to use Astral Orbs.
2. Not cast a spell and be Disarmed.
- All game you will be dueling each other for Intelligence. The difference is that your Intelligence steal is permanent. Most of the time this will mean he has to focus you with Astral Imprisonment to make you take damage from Sanity's Eclipse. This will leave him vulnerable to disables from your team.
- Global Silence will stop him from doing anything to you.

Riki
- If Riki reveals himself by attacking or using a skill you can Silence or use Scythe of Vyse to stop his Permanent Invisibility from kicking in.
- You can potentially reveal Riki for a full 12 seconds without any Items.

Viper
- Viper is SUPER-COUNTERED by Silencer.
- Before he hits Level Six all your skills will do full damage to him.
- He only has ONE ability that can break CotS or Last Word. That ability is Viper Strike. AFTER Level 6 if you use Last Word from maximum range he will have to either blow his Viper Strike on a creep or be Disarmed. It's that simple.
- Even his passive magic resistance will not prevent Glaives from doing all their damage to him.
- While Silenced he cannot slow you except with Corrosive Skin.

Weaver
- You can stop him from using his Time Lapse or Shukuchi with Global Silence and to a lesser extent with Last Word.
- This works especially well if you have a lot of burst damage on your team that Weaver is suppressing with Time Lapse.
- Remember that Weaver's ability to carry relies a lot on his Survivability and Maneuverability. Use Vyse in conjunction with silence to take that away from him.

Guide Changelog

11/19/2012
- Added 'Community Recommends' tab for Items recommended by Dotafire commenters! If you comment an item I will add it to the Guide (within reason!). I'm thinking about adding your description for why he needs it also. Don't expect me to add ridiculous items :3
- Added a better Replay. Still looking for DotaFire Community Replays

11/16/2012
- Updated Skadi after testing it on Silencer (it does not stack even when auto-casting Glaives. Tester still insisted it was great.)
- Added Rod of Atos. Sorry, I just forgot about it! xD

11/13/2012
- After a week of editing FINALLY Published.
- Fixing typos last minute please comment if you find any.

First things first: Fantastic guide. Creative, in-depth, and accurate. I have been lurking around dotafire for months now and until I read this guide I never felt the need to start an account to comment.

I'm by no means a pro player, but I have success with certain heroes and can play most roles provided my pub team is semi-capable, map aware, and literate. Recently, I've been playing a lot of Silencer.

He was one of my favorite heroes in the original Dota, and his counterpart in Heroes of Newerth was a strong pick for me. I was skeptical when his kit was revamped in 6.76, but have totally fallen in love with his newfound versatility and effectiveness.

I have never liked playing Silencer as a full support and believe that you are doing a disservice to your team if you do. It's even worse to ask another Silencer to play that way.

To play a good Silencer you must be aggressive. You should be in every fight, every gank, absorbing those INTs and dishing out the deeps. Carry toilet papers. Ward if you must. I usually buy the courier in most games as a sort of olive branch saying "Here, I got this, let me do my thing," and then go wreck mid. I end most games with only 150 CS but GPM in the 500s anyway. And Silencer doesn't even get assists from his ultimate.

I'm in a sort of low tier in Dota 2, what some may refer to as the garbage tier, and I'm convinced I cannot lose a game playing Silencer mid. Well, almost. I lost one of my last 9, but it was close and my teammates consisted of Phantom Assassin, Bounty Hunter, Drow Ranger, and Nature's Prophet. Not actually a bad lineup for a ****py pub, but it stood no chances against Slark, Mirana, Lina, Tiny, and Centaur.

Anyway, good guide, I wrote a lot here, but I could write a lot more (was considering a guide, but you got that covered). I love talking Silencer strategy and mechanics so get back at me if you're interested.

I picked up Ethereal blade in a few of the games. I liked it, was opening with a nuke that was bringing most heroes to half health and then following with Last Word and CoTS while I waited for the effect to wear off.

Additionally, I've been enjoying getting a Bottle if I'm mid. I start with three Iron branches, A stack of Tangoes, and a Clarity Potion. I'll also buy the courier. You can basically harass the opposing hero out of the lane in most cases using a combination of Last Word and CoTS, leaving you free to grab the runes and recharge or gank; Last Word and CoTS absolutely crush the side lane heroes two or three levels below you.

I get CoTS at Level 1 often, to just pop it right away and get the party going, sometimes neglecting Glaives until level 4. My only problem with this is I can usually first blood at level three and I miss out on those first two INTs.

Anyway, I feel that I've already written way too much for a simple comment space. Thanks for the guide, hope to read more stuff from you soon.

PS:
I haven't tried Eye of Skadi either. I have been working under the assumption that it will not stack with Glaives. If I have another dominant game I will try it to confirm.

If it does work, I could see it being a secondary pickup after Vyse and not a complete out of control lux item. Especially if your team is leaning on you to carry and your opponents have a true carry you need to slow down.

Pretty good. Lack of Atos/Midas/drums/mekansm as options on the carry build and mek as core on the support build are issues.

Midas is really silly on Silencer now, if it ever was good. #1 If you choose to rice on Silencer you should be capable of doing it with Glaives alone. #2 Silencer needs the a ton INT steal to properly carry meaning he should be too busy ganking and team fighting to farm jungle and easy lane.

Getting a Mek as a carry is equally questionable. I do agree that Drums and Atos should be considered though, especially if game is not going well. Ideally you rush Sheepstick by 20-25 minutes or Orchid, which is significantly easier to build around 18.